Former vice president Mike Pence shared a cryptic tweet espousing the merits of humility ahead of the January 6 Capitol riot anniversary. read more
A federal appeals court struck down the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules, ending a 20-year push to regulate internet service providers like a public utility. read more
North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea on Monday, South Korea's military said, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Seoul to meet with his counterpart amid a deepening political crisis in the country. read more
Last month, Mike Johns posted a video on LinkedIn showing what happened after he was picked up by a Waymo self-driving car in Scottsdale, Arizona. read more
The Louisiana Public Health Department has reported the first bird flu-related human death in the United States.
Shriekback - Nemesis (1985)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
In a jungle of the senses
Tinkerbell and Jack the Ripper
Love has no meaning, not where they come from
But we know pleasure is not that simple
Very little fruit is forbidden
Sometimes we wobble, sometimes we're strong
But you know evil is an exact science
...
Oddly, this tune appeared on a playlist here this evening. A song from back in the 80's when the Federal government wanted to break AT&T's apparent monopoly on telephone service.
A comic tune, but is it related to the current Net Neutrality decisions?
You decide.
American Comedy Network - Breaking Up Is Hard On You (1984)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
Doo doo doo down
Doobie doo down down
The deal is going down
Doobie doo down down
The rates are going up
Uppy up up up
Breaking up is hard on you
Don't take ma bell away from me
I've gotten used to monopoly
When they divest then i'll be blue
Yes breaking up is hard on you
Remember when you'd make a call
And you'd get through no sweat at all
Now we wait the whole night through
Cause breaking up is hard on you
They say that breaking up is hard to do
And so they put the screws to you
Don't say it's fate my friend
Including breaking up
They're also jacking up the rates again
[AT&T] don't say goodbye
Don't wanna use no mci
You'll pay bills out the wazoo
Cause breaking up is hard on you
...
Long Beach Dub Allstars - Sunny Hours featuring. will.i.am< (2001)br />
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
Well I've strolled across some dance floors filled with girls all dressed in red
Pulled my foot from my mouth, answer back the things i've said
Wander through the valley of the shadow of the dead
Stumbled on this old sun dial, then these words I read
I only count the sunny hours, brightest hours of day
I never count the gloomy hours I let them slip away. And I realize I'm away
...
The question I have to ask ...
Greenland is a part of what Country?
What does that Country have to say about these overtures by the Trump ruling family?
There's this ...
Denmark boosts Greenland defence after Trump repeats desire for US control (December 2024)
www.bbc.com
...The Danish government has announced a huge boost in defence spending for Greenland, hours after US President-elect Donald Trump repeated his desire to purchase the Arctic territory. ...
Quite curious that Denmark seems to view this ~offer~ as a possible act of aggression.
Depeche Mode - People Are People (1984)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
[Verse 1: Dave Gahan]
So we're different colours and we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me, though I've done nothing wrong
I've never even met you, so what could I have done?
...
Most apropos, imo, in light of the current political environment.
For starters, the cited link does not have to go through the austere site, archive.org.
The cited link is not pay walled.
From that cited article...
... Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips' decision to block a public inquiry into the Oldham grooming gangs seems, from the outside, to be almost inexplicable. Children were raped and abused by gangs of men while the authorities failed to protect them. ...
Another view ...
Musk's grooming gangs attack on Phillips 'disgraceful smear', says Streeting
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vdp4y1p0o
... Elon Musk's attack on Jess Phillips over her response to grooming gangs in the UK is a "disgraceful smear", Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said.
Tech multi-billionaire Musk posted messages on his social media site X saying the safeguarding minister should be jailed and calling her a "rape genocide apologist", as well as criticising Sir Keir Starmer for failing to prosecute gangs.
It came after Phillips rejected a request for the government to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham - which sparked calls from the Conservatives and Reform UK for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Streeting told the BBC Musk's comments were "ill-judged" as Phillips had "done more than most people ever do" to fight sexual abuse.
On Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Streeting said: "It is a disgraceful smear of a great woman who has spent her life supporting victims of the kind of violence that Elon Musk and others say that they're against.
"It's all very easy to sit there and fire off something in haste and click send when people like Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips have done the hard yards of actually locking up wife beaters, rapists and -----------." ...
My view, this is for the UK to resolve.
Along those lines ...
(from the BBC article cited above...)
... Streeting challenged Musk to "roll up his sleeves" and help tackle violence against women on online platforms.
"Online platforms have got a role to play in keeping people safe online, helping law enforcement on perpetrators of violence against women and people who want to groom kids online."
The health secretary said Sir Keir and Phillips both had "records that their critics can't even begin to touch".
While director of public prosecutions, Sir Keir introduced a special prosecutor for child abuse and sexual exploitation to oversee convictions against grooming gangs.
Starmer also changed the Crown Prosecution Service guidance to encourage police to investigate suspects in complex sexual abuse cases and court reforms aimed at making the process less traumatic for victims.
"As director of prosecutions, Keir Starmer opened up historic cases, going after people who thought they had got away with it," Streeting said.
"As for Jess Phillips, the work that she has done in her professional life outside politics, supporting victims of violence against women and girls, she has helped support them to get their day in in court and lock up their abusers" he added.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a full national public inquiry into what she called the UK's "rape gangs scandal".
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticised Musk's comments on Phillips as "not appropriate" but argued he was "right to be raising the general issue". ...
August Campbell - I-95 ------- Song (1983)
www.youtube.com
The 7" 45rpm single I have lists the artist as "August and the Spur of the Moment Band."
That aside, here are some lyrics ...
genius.com
(yeah, I don't expect these lyrics to pass the advertisers' check here ....)